Friday 28th August, 2020 Volume 2, Issue 3  

 

CONTENTS  

Featured Story Whole School News From the Head of School Guiding Statements Redevelopment Plan From the Elementary Principal  From the Secondary Principal From the College Counsellor Introducing Helen Young School Shop From the PTA 

  IMPORTANT DATES  

August Saturday 29th August - Board Training Day  September Monday 14th-18th September - MAP Testing G3-10 Friday 25th September - Chuseok Assembly/Harvest Festival Monday 28th September - Staff Training Day (No Students) Tuesday 29th September - Staff Training Day (No Students) Wednesday 30th September Chuseok Holiday begins   

 

Featured Story 

 

  In the 2023-2024 Academic Year, ISB will celebrate its 40th Anniversary. To guide our school’s development over the next four years we have developed a new four year Strategic Plan. The plan was developed in consultation with members of our school community and was reviewed and approved by the ISB Board of Governors last academic year. 

 

 

ISB Strategic Plan 

 In the Strategic Plan, we have identified six areas of strategic focus to guide the school's development and improvement.  

  

 

 Strategic Initiative 1  Collaboratively develop clear guiding statements that reflect the belief and philosophy of the school community in order to provide renewed purpose and direction. 

 

 

 Strategic Initiative 2  Provide stable, effective governance and leadership with clear, well-documented policies and procedures that are systematically evaluated and updated in order to support the achievement of schoolwide learner outcomes. 

  

 

 

ISB Strategic Plan 

 

 

 Strategic Initiative 3  Nurture a collaborative culture of innovation and improvement that ensures we develop digitally literate learners who are challenged, supported and engaged with the wider community to learn about and take action on sustainability, service and our shared future. 

 

 

 Strategic Initiative 4  Provide a safe, inclusive environment where all learners are engaged, challenged and supported. 

 

 

 Strategic Initiative 5  Ensure that staff have clearly defined roles and responsibilities with opportunities for professional development that is supported by a process of meaningful evaluation and feedback. 

 

 

 Strategic Initiative 6  Develop a financially, operationally and environmentally sustainable campus that will meet the needs of our student population. 

 The Strategic initiatives above will drive our action planning over the next four years. A full copy of the Strategic Plan including more detailed objectives can be viewed by clicking this link. 

 

 

Whole School News 

 We have now received instructions from the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education for the week starting Monday 31st August. The guidelines are the same as this week and are as follows:  

● ⅓ of Preschool Students are permitted on campus at any one time. ● ⅓ of Elementary School Students are permitted on campus at any one time.  ● ⅓ Middle School Students are permitted on campus at any one time.  ● ⅔ of High School Students are permitted on campus at any one time. ● Grade 12 students are permitted on campus every day. 

 We will continue to follow the three day cycle in the Early Years, Elementary and Middle School and the two day cycle in Grade 9 and 10. IB Diploma students will continue to attend school every day. The after school activity programme has been postponed until we are fully operational on campus with all students. The Schedule for next week will be as follows:  

Monday 31st August  Day C/HSB  G1, G5, G7, G10, G11 & G12 

Tuesday 1st September  Day A/HSA  EY1, KG, G3, G6, G9, G11 & G12 

Wednesday 2nd September  Day B/HSB  EY2, G2, G4, G8, G10, G11 & G12 

Thursday 3rd September  Day C/HSA  G1, G5, G7, G9, G11 & G12 

Friday 4th September  Day A/HSB  EY1, KG, G3, G6, G10, G11 & G12 

 If students are not on campus, they will connect with teachers online for lessons in our virtual learning environment. To help us ensure that the virtual learning component of this hybrid model is as effective as possible, we would be grateful for your feedback. Please take a moment to complete the survey below:  ISB Virtual Learning Feedback Survey  The responses you provide help us to get better at what we do. We would like to thank you all for your continued patience, understanding and support. We very much hope that we will be able to reopen the school campus for all students as soon as possible.     

 

 

 

From the Head of School 

 

ISB is governed by a volunteer Board of Governors drawn from diverse cultural and business backgrounds. The role of the Board is as follows:  

1. To prepare a clear statement of the school’s mission and objectives. 2. To review and maintain bylaws, and establish policies and plans 

consistent with the mission. 3. To be accountable for the financial well-being of the school, including 

capital assets, operating budgets, fund-raising, and endowments.  4. Delegate the day to day operation of the school to the Head of School 

and govern through policy. 5. Select, support, and nurture the Head of School. 

 Simon McCloskey 

6. Set the strategic direction of the school to ensure the long term viability of the organization. 7. Develop itself through new board member orientation, ongoing education, and leadership 

succession planning. 8. Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations and minimize exposure to legal action. 

 Tomorrow, on Saturday 29th August, our Board will meet for a training day to complete modules from the ECIS Governance Foundations Certified Course. Ongoing training, reflection and evaluation is important to ensure that all Board Members understand their roles and responsibilities so that they can work together effectively in the best interests of the whole school community. 

 ISB Board of Governors 

 

 

 

 

Guiding Statements Redevelopment Project 

 

 Hello everyone! Nice to meet you all online!  

As Head of Community Relations, I have been given the exciting task of coordinating a big project to redevelop the guiding statements of ISB. So what does that mean?   Guiding Statements are the mission, vision, beliefs, and values of our school community. These statements help to guide our learning ethos, communicate the spirit of our school, and share our vision for the future. 

The time has come to update the current guiding statements, and we’re looking for your opinions. (continued) 

 How?  Laura McLuckie 

We will put together a highly-skilled task force comprised of teachers, students, and members of the ISB community, who will work together to evaluate the core values of ISB and re-develop new guiding statements that represent our collective ISB spirit.   And that’s why we need YOU!   We’ll be asking you to complete a short survey so you can tell us exactly what learning with ISB means to you. Everyone’s voice is important, so we’ll be involving parents, teachers, staff, and all the students from Kindergarten to Grade 12.   Why?  

We want to make sure that the ISB guiding statements truly reflect our ISB community, which means giving everyone the chance to have their say.  

With every new school year there comes new ways of thinking, new opinions, new challenges, and new opportunities. ISB will continue to adapt and strive for excellence around every new corner, and we ask you to join us in strengthening our diverse, international community.  More information coming soon, so stay tuned and stay safe.  

 

With Warm Regards, 

 

Laura McLuckie 

Head of Community Relations 

  (P.S. Go Bears!) 

 

 

 

From the Elementary Principal 

 

  This week we have been running a hybrid model of VLE and on-campus classes, as directed by the Busan Ministry of Education.   It has been lovely to see students back on campus every 3 days and I know there is lots of learning going on online too. We hope that we can return to campus learning for everybody soon. Stay safe everyone!  

 Kevin Smith 

 

PYP Learning Focus 

 Early Years In Early Years, we are inquiring and exploring the "Who We Are" unit by finding out about people's favorite foods, and looking at similarities and differences.   Throughout the unit and hands-on activities, Early Years 2 are also discovering which words begin with f through various activities. Early Years 1 are exploring counting using hands-on activities.     Golden Time in Grade 2  Grade 2 has one lesson during the day on Tuesdays called, "Golden Time". This is an opportunity for the students to use their imaginations and build or create things of their choosing. It's also a time for them to collaborate, communicate and problem solve. They utilized recycled materials, legos, and paints in the last session as part of their making. 

  

 

PYP Visual Arts  This week, Grade 3 students worked on how to depict the sky at different moments.    They were invited to use different media, the creative tools from Seesaw or the classic tools of coloring with pencils, watercolors, etc.   They explored the colors of the sky and their impressions, considering these questions:     "How was the sky last night? How is the sky now? How do you imagine the perfect sky might look?"                  In Kindergarten the children went on a nature walk where they found some stones. Later they painted them as if they were fishes. They used line patterns and colors to transform the stones into beautiful fish.   

 

 

 Grade 2 Drumming  Grade 2 students have been developing their rhythmic skills this week in music lessons. Students have been reading ta and ti-ti to play different rhythmic patterns at varying tempos. Students are also developing their ensemble skills by learning the correct timing of their section in the music. Great drumming skills Grade 2!   

   Community Building in Grade 3  Grade 3 is learning about How we organize ourselves and what it means to be a citizen within a community along with why we have rules and how those rules affect our community.  We have created math games to improve our math skills while practicing procedural writing. Our games have taught us the importance of rules and that we can build our community while playing together.   Grade 4 Return to Campus!  Grade 4 celebrated their return to school with a class photo, a multiplication game and a factor poster they made at home during VLE.           

 

From the Secondary Principal 

 

The week has been yet another one out of the box. I sound like a broken record to some extent, but the students and teachers have yet again simply dropped into a new routine of classes and learning.  Throughout the week we have had a mixture of Zoom lessons blended with face to face teaching as well as supporting those who still find themselves in Quarantine or unable to get back into the country for a variety of reasons.   Your teachers have been and are amazing professionals. We will head into next week with a modicum of experience with this method of teaching and learning. We are also eternally optimistic that we will be back in school with face to face learning some time soon.   

 Al Roland 

 

Secondary Learning Focus 

 

Grade 12 CAS Project - Animal Service  ISB Grade 12 students Yidan, Youjin, Maya, Liye, and Emily emBARKed on a project to raise awareness of animal rights.   What is the project about? We chose to do a CAS project related to animal rights because we strongly feel empathetic towards animals, seeing them getting abandoned.   Throughout the project, our group made a webpage to raise awareness about animal rights by organizing information about why it is an issue, why it is important to consider it, and how the issue is being solved.  

 We encourage you to visit our webpage to learn more about the issue of animal rights and even help out by volunteering at local animal shelters.   Another thing that we did was visiting a local animal shelter near our school. We were able to help with facility work such as cleaning, better understand the adoption procedure, and developed a stronger interest in the issue as we were able to have hands-on experience.   

Link to webpage: https://sites.google.com/isbusan.org/animalservice-busan/home Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/animalshelters_busan_/ 

 

 

 

ISB Student Achievements   

Congratulations to students Kim Ju An (G10) and Won Dong In (G11) on receiving silver and bronze awards (respectively) in the 2020 International Middle and High School Students Art Competition. This competition was conducted by K-Art International Exchange Association. We are very proud of you!   

 

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The Language and Literature Department 

The last year has offered all of us occasions to reflect on what we do with our time and why we do it. We asked ourselves how we could be more connected even as circumstances force us to be apart. The Language and Literature Department took the lessons learned from 

last year to develop our department focus for this year. Our aim is to help students improve their critical thinking skills and communication skills. 

This year we have a subscription to Membean, a vocabulary learning program that offers "evidence-based, well-researched instruction techniques out of learning labs and into everyday use." 

We look forward to building our students' curiosity and interest in learning and using words well through Membean. It is a program that requires only 45 minutes each week for three 15 minute training sessions. 

At home, parents can be the greatest influence for children to read. Reading together and having discussions about what they read is the best way to spark a love of learning. We cannot emphasize enough how important parents and family members are for shaping a child's love of reading. 

 

 

 

Knowing language is a power. In Korean language and literature classes, students who use their languages at the mother-tongue level practice communicating refined and cultured expressions with critical thinking skills.  

For our multi-languages learners, it is a huge benefit that they can do more for their lives with understanding the languages especially, among the world's largest economies by GDP and with a high HDI (Human Development Index), South Korea is one of the Asian dragons!  

We look forward to all the Korean L&L learners enjoying listening, speaking, reading, writing, and presenting in Korean! 

 

 

From the College Counselor 

 

The biggest virtual College Fair opportunity is coming to ISB! Over 200 universities from 21 different countries are participating in the fair for students and parents at international schools in Korea (click HERE to view the list of attending universities).   Our students and parents can register for as many sessions as possible to  learn about each university and ask questions. ISB has set up fair accounts for high school students to begin the registration process. However, any students and parents from ISB are welcome to join the fair. Please feel free to contact the College Counselor via email (gjjohnson@isbusan.org) if you would like to open a fair account.   

 Dr. GJ Johnson 

 

 

 

Student fair registration Please follow the below steps to join the fair.  1. Check your email inbox (or spam folder) to open a registration email sent by Cialfo 2. Follow the instructions and create a Cialfo account 3. Go to the ”events” tab and click on the “Korea World University Fair” banner 4. Register as many sessions as you like (we recommend between 5-10 sessions) 5. Prepare a list of questions to ask   6. Check your session schedule at the tab called ”my session” 7. Join the scheduled session(s) you registered  8. Ask the prepared questions through the chat function  * You are allowed to join future online events available using the Cialfo account.  * Parent Fair Registration is available via this link explore.cialfo.co/webinars   

Introducing... 

 

Each week we feature an ISB Teacher in our weekly newsletter. This week we interviewed Helen Young.  Qualifications and Certifications: Bachelors of Education, Bachelors of Science (Biology), Certificate of Liberal Arts, TESL Certificate  What do you teach at ISB? Elementary PE 

       

 Helen Young 

Where are you from and where else have you lived? I grew up in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I have also lived in: China (Wuhan, Dalian, Shenzhen), Trinidad & Tobago (St. Augustine), Egypt (Cairo), South Korea (Busan), and on a cruise ship traveling around the Western Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, and Bermuda.  What inspired you to become a teacher? I had some influential teachers and some not so nice teachers throughout my education. The influential teachers challenged my thinking, broadened my perspective, and sparked my interest in different subject areas. The not so nice teachers made me feel self-doubt, incompetent, and dreadful in class. These different experiences made me realize how much teachers can impact the way students learn and feel (about themselves and different subjects), and shape them as individuals. This, coupled with me wanting to help others, inspired me to become a teacher.  What is your educational philosophy? Mistakes, struggle, and failure are all part of the learning process. Provide students with a safe environment and the skills necessary to overcome and learn from these challenges, and they will persevere, be resilient, show grit, and do amazing things.    Continued...   

 

 

What made you choose ISB? I was drawn to the passion the Head of the School at that time had when he spoke of ISB. He spoke so proudly of the diversity of the students, the variety of activities and programs offered, and the beautiful campus and city, that I had to come to check it out for myself!  What is the best part of your job? Watching the kids struggle...then seeing them go through the process of getting frustrated, wanting to give up but continuing to persevere….and when the time comes, the big smile, excitement and pride they have when they can do it!  What are your hobbies and interests? Gardening, going for long walks while listening to podcasts, hanging out at the beach, reading, weight training, playing sports, and making fermented foods & drinks.  What is your favorite book? I can’t say that I have a favourite book. A few books I would recommend are The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, Memoirs of A Geisha by Arthur Golden, and Red A Crayon’s Story, by Michael Hall.  What is your favorite music? Old school hip hop and R&B and some reggaeton.  

 

School Shop 

 

   Our School Shop is currently open on Monday and Wednesday from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm.   Students are welcome to visit the shop during break times and lunchtimes.   The shop sells the school PE uniform as well as a range of other ISB merchandise including the new ISB Bears Zip Hoodie.  Wear the ISB logo with pride, and look great in the process!   

 

 

From the PTA 

  

 Hello Everyone!   On behalf of our talented and hard working librarian Rigard Kruger, the PTA would like to reach out to parents and ask for a helping hand in making our library an even better resource for our inquiring minds!   The school library is looking for parent volunteers once or twice a week to help with book organizing and other exciting and engaging tasks.   Involving parents in a school community is a great way to show support for the school as well as being beneficial to students.   We have created an application form which you can access below. We really appreciate your dedication to the education of our students and the continued growth of our caring community.   Library Volunteer Application Form  Aside from that we wish everyone a wonderful weekend and week ahead, and congratulate the students and staff for navigating the hybrid school system with grace and resilience.   Here’s to another successful week!